Who could forget last year’s controversy-laced Pocono race? Definitely not Chase Elliott! With Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch disqualified after finishing first and second, respectively, the race results were nothing less than chaos for the audience. However, irrespective of everything, the incident had a silver lining, at least for Elliott.

After Denny Hamlin and Kyle Busch’s disqualification, Elliott was declared the winner of the race. And while reminiscing about his unexpected win during his recent appearance at the Di & Fran podcast, Elliott awkwardly revealed.

“I know. It was such an awkward thing. And honestly, one that it’s like… everybody talked about us having five wins last year. It’s really four and a half. I don’t know that I would give it a five, but maybe four and a half, four to quarter. But yeah, it’s, you know, kind of an unprecedented thing in NASCAR. But not necessarily in motorsport.”

Furthermore, Elliott shared that it was not the first time that a post-race inspection affected his race results. He said,

“I mean there’s other forms of racing that do a post-race tech type thing. I’ve been, you know, familiar with or part of in the past where it’s gone on the opposite way for me too. So, been on both ends of that. But, yeah, definitely not how you want to win. But I guess just add that half-mark to the win column. We’ll take it.”

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What exactly happened with Chase Elliott at Pocono?

As reported by USA Today, Denny Hamlin finished first during the July 2022 race at the Pocono Speedway. Following him was his Joe Gibbs Racing teammate Kyle Busch, who roared his way through the ‘Tricky Triangle’. However, with Elliott finishing third, he could have never imagined clinching a victory after the completion of the race.

However, during a post-race inspection of the winning cars, it was ascertained that clear tape on the JGR cars provided an aerodynamic advantage to them.

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And hence, in a rare series of events, the governing body disqualified the two drivers. As a result, every driver’s finish was bumped up by two spots, making Chase Elliott the winner of the race.